1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to apparatus, and accompanying methods for use therein, for an ISDN LAN modem (or an aspect thereof) that is particularly, though not exclusively, suited for small user environments and which contains an internal ISDN router having a self-contained network hub for inter-connecting multiple network devices, such as workstations, to each other through a local area network (LAN) and for permitting each of those devices to gain access through the router to any one of a number of different remote networks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Over the past decade, personal computer (PC) usage has increased substantially to the point where currently PCs have diffused into many aspects of a business organization. Coincident with this phenomena, a desire has increasingly arisen, certainly in a workplace environment, among computer users in a common organization, such as a business establishment, to readily share computer files. This desire, particularly when fueled by historically decreasing costs of network equipment, has led to an expanding number of network installations throughout the business community to facilitate file sharing and electronic communication among not only users in a common organization, but also with users at other organizations and locations. Moreover, as these costs of increasingly sophisticated PCs and network equipment continue to fall, networked computer usage is penetrating increasingly smaller organizations as the expected benefits to those organizations, such as expanded productivity, outweigh the costs associated therewith.
Moreover, the trend of increasing PC usage is not confined to business. Home usage of PCs is also rising though currently penetration of PCs into homes is still considerably less than that in the business community. Nevertheless, PC applications exist that address various needs of a family, from, e.g., traditional productivity tools, such as word processing for, e.g., home office use, to education, entertainment and to Internet access. Given this, today, it is increasingly common for a family to possess several PCs. For example, for a typical family of two spouses and two children of school age, each spouse may require his(her) own PC for business use, such as for job-related endeavors, while each child may have one PC or share a common PC, purchased for all children in the family, for, e.g., educational use, such as running teaching programs of one sort or another, Internet access, or entertainment.
If current cost and technology trends continue, PC usage should increasingly proliferate throughout businesses and families to a point of becoming rather ubiquitous and inter-connected, i.e., at least ideally and at some time in the future where most people will possess their own PC and where such PCs will become increasingly inter-networked with each other.
However, a significant obstacle to increasing PC usage and inter-networking has been the continued difficulty many individuals face when installing and configuring a PC, let alone connecting the PC to a wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet, or even implementing a simple local area network (LAN).
For many individuals, specifically those inexperienced with PCs, the task of just installing and configuring a PC itself is so daunting, particularly for so-called IBM compatible PCs, that the task often negates their desire to purchase a PC. To counter this, PC manufacturers have made and continue to make significant strides over the past few years, such as through incorporating so-called "Plug and Play" hardware and using compatible pre-loaded operating systems, such as the "WINDOWS 95" operating system (WINDOWS 95 is a trademark of the Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Washington), to automatically detect system hardware and self-configure the PC, as well as to simplify subsequent PC use and maintenance. Unfortunately, the same can not be said for computer networks.
Installing hardware for a very simple computer network for a small number of users (henceforth referred to as a "workgroup") is relatively straightforward--typically encompassing installing a multi-port network hub and a network interface card, the latter into each PC to be networked in the workgroup and running interconnecting cables therebetween. However, properly configuring conventional network hardware and associated software in each of the PCs is a rather tedious task--one that often frustrates even an experienced user. Consequently, many users desiring to network their computers, even for a simple network, have relegated the task of installing and properly configuring their networks, including both hardware and software components, to properly trained service organizations or consultants but at a considerable expense relative to the cost of the equipment. While a relatively large organization can afford to incur such expenses, small organizations and families can not. Accordingly, while many small business users and even home users could significantly benefit from networking their computers together as workgroups--such as through file sharing and electronic communication, the difficulty and expense associated therewith has effectively limited the penetration of computer networks into these environments.
Therefore, a need exists in the art for a computer networking device that not only implements a LAN, which permits computers to be networked together in, e.g., a workgroup, but also significantly simplifies and expedites network configuration. Such a device should ease the burden placed on the user as much as possible, preferably to a point of automatically adapting itself, without user intervention, to its current network environment. As yet, no such device exists in the art.
Furthermore and quite apart from increasing proliferation of PCs, in recent years, a number of domestic and foreign telephone companies have begun offering Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN) services to their customers. ISDN provides an integrated voice and data network that offers both increased bandwidth and significant flexibility over traditional analog telephone services. Inasmuch as subscriber charges for ISDN access are decreasing--with the decrease being rather noticeable for some telephone companies, demand for ISDN service and equipment is rising appreciably. Demand is particularly strong and growing for those subscribers who seek cost-effective high speed access to a WAN such as, e.g., the Internet, and/or other computer networks.
In particular, a basic rate (so-called "2B+D" service) ISDN interface provides higher speed bandwidth than both traditional analog, modem-based dial-up access modalities and comparably priced switched digital services. Each so-called B ("bearer") channel, which carries subscriber voice and/or data, provides 64 Kbits/second of bandwidth; while a D ("data") channel, which carries signaling and control information, provides 16 Kbits/second of bandwidth. For the bandwidth delivered, an ISDN line is significantly less expensive than a private leased line that supplies the same bandwidth across the three channels. Furthermore, ISDN, being a digital end-to-end service, provides digital transmission channels that tend to be more accurate and reliable, from a standpoint of error rates and dropped connections, than are conventional analog telephone connections. In addition, ISDN service provides rapid connect times which, in turn, provide faster support for those LAN protocols that require relatively short latency across WAN connections.
Starting a few years ago, various networking and communications equipment manufacturers have been offering relatively inexpensive ISDN terminal adapters, more commonly and rather loosely referred to as "ISDN modems" (though these adapters do not contain a traditional analog modulator-demodulator as occurs in a conventional analog modem), and other ISDN-based network devices, such as routers, for subscriber end-use. Such a modem, also generically referred to as "data circuit terminating equipment" (DCE), once connected to an ISDN connection and a serial port on a subscriber's PC, permits that subscriber to connect his(her) computer to, e.g., an Internet service provider and communicate at speeds approximately two to four times greater than through a conventional analog modem. The computer so connected becomes so-called "data terminal equipment" (DTE). While the availability of ISDN modems is clearly not the sole cause underlying the growth in ISDN usage, it, when combined with decreasing rates for ISDN service, is certainly a large and growing factor.
Unfortunately, currently available ISDN devices, such as routers, which connect a network, e.g., an Ethernet network, to a single ISDN connection are rather cumbersome and tedious to configure. In that regard, such a router typically contains an RS-232 serial port to which a PC is connected in order to initially configure the router. During configuration, a user at the PC, typically executing a proprietary application provided by the manufacturer of the router, assigns suitable network parameters, including an IP address and a subnet mask, to the router. Until these parameters are loaded into the router, the router is simply unable to communicate over the network to any PC connected thereto. Determining the correct value of these parameters and then completing the configuration, with all the other salient information, proved to be a rather tedious process. Furthermore, not only did the user incur a burden of installing software on the PC used to configure the router, but also the price of the router needed to reflect an added cost of the serial port, which during the life of the router is usually used just once for initial configuration.
In addition, in the event of a network fault or other condition that affects a connection to a remote LAN or WAN and/or server thereon, conventional routers do not indicate the specific nature of that fault to any local client connected to the router. This, in turn, relegates a user at that client to rely on an error message, in those instances when it is provided by the network, that is often rather cryptic at best and more often simply not provided at all. In the latter situation, the user simply waits in basically total ignorance of the fault, i.e., the fault occurs but the user receives no indication of it on, e.g., his(her) browser. Not only is the user annoyed by this type of fault handling, but also the user is forced to wait, owing to a lack of information which leads to an expectation (which later proves to be unwarranted) that the fault will resolve itself, which can be rather time-consuming and frustrating.
Moreover, it is increasingly common to find multiple users on the same network who simultaneously desire to connect to the Internet through different network service providers, e.g., one user may desire to connect to one Internet service provider (ISP) at the same time another user wants to connect to a different ISP. Unfortunately, currently available ISDN routers can not accommodate simultaneous ISDN connections by multiple PCs to different ISPs; such routers are limited to accommodating only one connection to one ISP at a time. Moreover, these routers are unable to control access, on a per PC basis, to any one of a number of multiple accounts across different network service providers.
Hence, given the increasing availability of economical ISDN connections and advantages associated with the use thereof, the computer networking device needed in the art should not only implement a LAN that serves a workgroup but also should implement an ISDN router to provide simultaneous high-speed access for the LAN through a single ISDN connection to multiple service providers, such as, e.g., different ISPs. Moreover, such a device should be easy to configure, without a need for any external software, and to reduce its price, dispense with a need for any serial or other port used solely for initial configuration.
Advantageously, such a device, which as yet does not exist in the art, should not only substantially eliminate user frustration and significantly reduce time and costs associated with establishing, configuring and using a LAN for a workgroup as well as with connecting each PC therein to a remote network service provider, but also increase the use of such LANs in small businesses and among home users to the eventual benefit of each.